Cats make you want to stay in

1/9/2015

Cats make you want to stay in

"I love cats because I enjoy my home;
and little by little, they become its visible soul.”
- Jean Cocteau

“CATS MAKE YOU WANT TO STAY IN” is a video-installation that encourages the visitors to question themselves about the position that animals hold in their environment. It explores what it means to live with a non-human being, coexist with it, and how this affects the way the space is inhabited; also, how this other presence shapes the place’s own temporality. This piece makes the most of the unique characteristics of the drawing and animation languages, in such a way that it gives life to the space through video projections.

DEVELOPMENT

Test of the video installation during production

To culminate the first stage of my artistic career, I decided to create for my degree show a video-installation to achieve the projection of an image, which in turn would constitute a changing, living and habitable mental space.

The technical aspect of the project is based on my personal interest in in-situ video-installation and animation. It uses a white line drawing on a black background, with a 2d animation technique made in digital media, highlighting the qualities of the medium. Alongside this is a soundtrack taken from the environment that complements the piece.

The installation consists of two projections on the walls of the room and a 5:1 sound system to bring a mental space into a physical experience. Since the idea is to show a living space through the simulated cohabitation with a cat, I decided that the projection would be 1:1 scale in order to give the viewer the familiarity of a space where they can be surrounded and even feel cosy in.

References

PERSONAL LINE OF WORK

Previous works

Memories (2014) — Drawing in-situ of objects lost to time. Made with masking tape.

Kai's Box (2014) — Series of paintings using footage taken from the point of view of a cat in its home.

ARTISTIC REFERENCES

Artistic References

I referenced the work of Tabaimo, William Kentridge, Harun Farocki , Jana Sterbak and the “Becoming Animal : Contemporary Art in the Animal Kingdom” exhibition at the Mueum of Contemporary Art of Massachusetts en el 2005.

Creating and following a plan

Accounting for a video-installation that is site-specific and 10 minutes long is a matter of planning, since there is a physical place to have in mind. I kept careful logs of all my process, as I knew that the experience of creating this piece for the degree show would be invaluable for my future work.

It was also essential to stay organized, since this project utilised concepts of drawing, animation, and installation as art forms in a way I had not attempted before, including technical aspects I was not familiar with, needed to make a 1:1 animation.

Sketchbook with notes about timing, sketches and room dimensions

Storyboard

Thumbnail board including the two walls for the animation.

Animatic

Projection Measurements

The technical aspects of the video-installation included taking the measurements of the room I would be projecting in, and choosing both the projectors and their position/angle.

I used a drawing to test the characteristics of the equipment. I recorded footage using my own height and walking speed to have a clear timing of the animation in the space, and to make sure it was believable for my animated cat to get from one corner to the other, enhancing the sense of familiarity I wanted the viewer to feel.

After the test, I made these drawing of the space to be projected, referencing common house items that anyone could recognize. The animated cat would have this assortment of objects as elements to interact with.

Photo edit of how it would look like in the space.

ANIMATION

Animation test for the cat. I was looking for an expressive line, but also one that suggested a house cat.

Rough animation of the cat:

Installation In-Situ - TEST

6 weeks prior to the show, I was able to do a final test, checking on the timing and dimensions for the final projection in August.

After that, I dedicated myself entirely to the character animation of the cat, knowing that the projection would work in the specific space I had chosen.

At this point, I also started recording the foley sound for the animation with the assistance of a friend from the filmmaking and TV production course.

Change of Plans: unexpected and unfortunate

One month before the degree show, I was informed that the room I'd been using up to that point wouldn't be available any more, and I was given another room with completely different dimensions. The 1:1 projection I had been working on was not viable in the new room, so I had to improvise to still be able to take part on the degree show.

Given the circumstances, I choose to project a reduced version of the installation on cardboard boxes, seeking to evoke the warm and secure feeling that cats look for when they go inside them.

Animation

Left side projection

Right side porjection

Complete final video-installation

Bibliography
- Andersen, K. & Bochicchio, L. (2012).The Presence of Animals in Contemporary Art as a Sign of Cultural Change. Revista d’Humanitats. Vol. 6 (1). Pp. 12-23.
- Capra, F. (2004). The hidden connections: A science for sustainable living. Anchor.
- Castro, L. & Wasserman, E. (2015). Crows Understand Analogies: What birds can teach us about animal intelligence. Scientific American.

Keywords: Animal, to cohabit, animation, private space, video-installation

Download the memoir that accompanied this installation (in Spanish):